Opinion: Sex, Lies and Tomb Raider

How Crystal Dynamics is dropping the ball on an issue that could have defined its reboot and pushed gaming narrative forward.

By Audrey Drake

Updated: 9 Mar 2017 11:52 pm

Posted: 19 Jun 2012 11:44 pm

There's nothing wrong with sex. Hopefully more than a decade into the 21st century, everyone can agree on that. Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with using sex as a theme in video games, or even delving deep enough to touch on darker issues like sexual assault. That said, if a game developer is going to have the gall to touch on such a delicate topic, it better have its business together. If you're going to “go there” - go there. Own up to it, and have the artistic integrity to stand by your decision.

This is where Crystal Dynamics, the developer behind the forthcoming Tomb Raider reboot, went wrong. It all started with a comment made by Executive Producer Ron Rosenberg in a recent Kotaku interview. “What happens is her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island. They try to rape her,” he said. “She's literally turned into a cornered animal. And that's a huge step in her evolution.” It all sounds pretty straightforward - extreme conditions, including the attempted sexual assault Rosenberg mentions (on display in the E3 Crossroads trailer below - jump to the 2:15 mark), spur an otherwise normal girl into becoming a killer, and eventually the Tomb Raider we all know.

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Had Crystal Dynamics left it at that, and tastefully ignored the inevitable onslaught of people who are uncomfortable with such themes being used in games, everything would have been fine. Where things got really messed up was when studio head Darrell Gallagher made a statement on the game’s official site. “In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly,” he said. “Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.”

Say what now?

Crystal Dynamics clearly intends sexual assault to be a part of Lara's evolution.

There are a few things seriously off about Crystal Dynamics flip flopping on the issue. To start - don’t show a trailer where a dude pushes a terrified girl against a wall and tries to grab her ass while slobbering all over her neck… then tell us “sexual assault of any kind” isn’t in the game. It’s not only a blatant lie (seriously, try pulling that on a female officer and see if she considers it “sexual assault”), it’s also an insult to our intelligence. And it’s just plain tacky.

Again, the fact that attempted sexual assault is included in the game isn’t the issue at hand. Whether or not the guy was successful in his attempt to sexually assault Lara isn’t important either. The fact that it’s attempted - and in one of the game’s pivotal scenes that justifies her becoming a killer, no less - means it is a theme in the game. To deny that it happened is odd, and plain doesn’t sit well. After all, why go to the trouble of including that scene only to backpedal at the first sign of controversy?Heavy themes, when handled intelligently and with the proper amount of respect, can potentially add depth to a game's narrative by forcing us to consider the issues at hand, perhaps in a new light. Games like Catherine or Heavy Rain prove beyond a doubt that it’s possible to handle controversial topics (sex, adultery, child abduction, murder, torture) in such a way as to propel a game to new emotional heights. Those developers achieved this by maintaining a clear vision for their game, their intentions behind employing these themes crystal clear and well communicated.

The same could have been said about Tomb Raider, until some backpedaling put an unflattering light on what could have been a powerful motivation for young Lara. Instead of setting up a defining moment for a newly rebooted character, Crystal Dynamics has dug itself a hole of conflicting comments, one it will have a hard time crawling out of.

If books, movies and television can handle such heavy subject matter, so can gaming.

There’s truth to the idea that different people comprise the Tomb Raider development team, each with different thoughts and opinions. But their vision should be a unified one if they’re going to tackle such a heavy issue. Either include attempted sexual assault as Lara’s motivation to kill or don’t. It’s the wrong idea to include it, show it off in a trailer, then say you didn’t include it at all. It’s weird. It’s tasteless. And it’s taking the spotlight away from a game that deserves attention and recognition for how cool it looks and its attempt to add some depth to a previously shallow franchise.

That’s the most frustrating part of the whole affair. The game has so much promise, but some tactless dishonesty distracts from this fact. Ultimately, how the game handles the issue of sexual assault is a judgment that should be reserved for the game's release early next year. But in the meantime, it’s only fair to expect a little honesty and artistic integrity from Crystal Dynamics. Call a spade a spade. Either that, or leave the spade out altogether.

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Also, it’s okay if you disagree with her. You’ll live. More importantly - game on!